Subscribe to Candy's Newsletter

Tag: Good

The Art Deco exterior of the 508 Park building before restoration. Its architecture is considered an excellent example of a Zig Zag Moderne building. Photo: Encore Park

You probably never noticed the boarded-up tan brick building near Park and Young streets in downtown Dallas. It sat abandoned for two decades, its sidewalks littered with trash and walls vandalized with graffiti.

But behind the grime and neglect, there was a story of intersecting histories waiting to be told.

This Art Deco structure, called 508 Park, was once the hub of the local music scene. Mississippi Delta blues legend Robert Johnson recorded nearly half his songs, as well as his final work, in 1937. In fact, over 800 blues, jazz, western swing, and Mexican recordings occurred at 508 Park by Johnson and other legends such as Gene Autry, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Light Crust Doughboys, and Lolo Cavasos.

The Stewpot of First Presbyterian Church across the street purchased 508 Park in 2011. Thanks to their efforts, as well as dedicated preservationists, historians, architects, and volunteers, this architecturally significant building is singing again.

The campus, known as Encore Park, is a multi-phased, multi-venue campus that aims to bring all cultures together to experience and appreciate history, art, music, and community gardening.

Pat Bywaters is executive director of Encore Park Dallas and grandson of influential Texas artist and “Dallas Nine” member Jerry Bywaters. He’s been spearheading the research into 508’s history, visiting archives in California, Louisiana, and New York.

“I love doing research, and I’ve always loved history. As soon as we looked into 508, the music history came flooding,” Bywaters said. “The Encore Park project preserves not only the architectural relic, but a special place and time in Dallas’ history.”

Another residential development is underway near West Dallas’ super hot Trinity Groves neighborhood with the construction of Alta Yorktown by Wood Partners LLC.

The development will include 226 luxury apartments in three, four-story buildings on six acres. The property, located at 660 Yorktown St., is just one mile west of downtown Dallas, and sits near the Trinity Groves restaurant, retail, and entertainment area.

Rents at Alta Yorktown will average just over $1,300 a month for apartment homes that average 827 square feet (available as studio, one, two, and three bedrooms). Leasing will begin toward the end of 2015, and construction is slated for completion toward the middle of 2016.

Interior finishes in the apartments will include granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, tile backsplashes, Shaker wood cabinets, upgraded fixtures, and wireless technology packages. Community amenities will include an outdoor swimming pool and courtyard, grilling stations, and fire pits. The property will also have a small amount of retail space.

Alta Yorktown is just one of multiple new developments in and around Trinity Groves, where Wood Partners has a big stake in the neighborhood. It sits next to the Sylvan Thirty mixed-use project, in where Wood Partners built the 200 apartments, and the Alta West Commerce apartments, which will have 252 units. Jump to read more!